| The best Zimbabwe news site on the world wide web |  |
| NEWS |
| FORUMS |
| NEWS ANALYSIS |
| READERS' FORUM |
Zambian newspaper lashes Tsvangirai, warns of 'shifting tide of public opinion'
SHIFTING TIDE: Zambian newspaper says compromise proposed
by SADC "was not unreasonable"
By Lebo Nkatazo
Posted to the web: 03/12/2008 12:06:12
ZAMBIA’S biggest newspaper warned Tuesday that “the tide of African public opinion may soon shift” against Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over his refusal to accept a compromise solution offered by regional leaders in an attempt to install a power sharing government in Zimbabwe.
Zambia has been sympathetic to Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) while assailing President Robert Mugabe’s government over human rights abuses.
But the privately-owned Post newspaper warns that Tsvangirai could “lose all that support in a very vast way” over his alliances with western countries and lack of belief “in Africa and African solutions to problems”.
“It is commonplace wisdom that little annoyances should not be allowed to stand in the way of a big pleasure. And Tsvangirai should realise and accept the fact that concessions are inherent in negotiations,” the Post said in an editorial published on December 2 under the headline, ‘Tsvangirai pushing his luck too far’.
The Post said a compromise offered by Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders over the allocation of cabinet portfolios, in particular that the MDC-T and Zanu PF share control of the Home Affairs Ministry, “was not unreasonable”.
Noting that Tsvangirai had called for the regional summit which reached that conclusion, the newspaper said it was “sad that Tsvangirai and MDC could dismiss the decision taken by the SADC summit of November 9 as a ‘nullity’.”
“It should have been easily accepted by both parties to break the standoff, but this was rejected by Tsvangirai in total contempt of SADC. (But) it has been very clear from the very beginning that Tsvangirai doesn’t believe much in Africa and African solutions to problems. From the very beginning, Tsvangirai had relied on American, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and other European support. Africa had never been an option for him,” said the Post.
Last week, former South African President Thabo Mbeki – who has been mediating between the Zimbabwe parties -- took aim at the MDC and Tsvangirai, saying the party must “take responsibility for the future of Zimbabwe, rather than see its mission as being a militant critic of President Mugabe and Zanu PF.”
Mbeki said it was Tsvangirai who suggested the shared control of the Home Affairs ministry, which remains the deal breaker, but he was now repudiating his own stance going into the SADC summit.
“All that is now required is that these leaders must remain true to their word. They must implement the agreement they have signed,” Mbeki said in a letter to Tsvangirai. “In this regard, they have absolutely no need to refer to their external supporters for approval, however powerful they might seem… All that is required is that you, the leaders of the people of Zimbabwe, should do what you have committed yourselves to do, and that is all!”
Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a faction of the MDC, signed an historic power sharing pact on September 15 following disputed elections in June.
The establishment of a government has stalled over a dispute in the allocation of ministries, particularly the Home Affairs portfolio under which the police falls. Tsvangirai’s party has identified the portfolio as a “key ministry” and insists on exclusive control, while Zanu PF has reluctantly agreed to share it – with Tsvangirai’s MDC taking control first.
Tsvangirai is set to become Prime Minister while Mugabe remains President in the “inclusive government”.
Last week, negotiators from the two MDC factions and Zanu PF drew up a constitutional amendment Bill which will pave way for the power sharing government. The draft has been referred back to the parties for approval, and will need to be passed by a two thirds majority in Parliament where none of the parties has the numbers.
Tsvangirai, who remains out of Zimbabwe since the SADC summit, travelled to Botswana, Morocco and Senegal last week from South Africa where he had been originally refused to leave because his travel papers were invalid. He called for the African Union to intervene in the Zimbabwe stand-off – a risky move that could drive a further wedge between him and neighbours from the SADC region.
Tsvangirai is very sensitive to Mugabe’s repeated accusations that he is a “western puppet”, but a week after Mbeki raised concerns about Tsvangirai and his western backers, the Post newspaper said while not trying to choose friends for Tsvangirai, it “merely wondered why countries that have never supported liberation or progressive movements in this region are today the allies and ardent supporters of Tsvangirai and MDC.”
The paper said: “What is it that they have found more interesting, more favourable, more acceptable in Tsvangirai and MDC that they did not find in Mandela and ANC, in Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo and Zanu and Zapu?
“What is it that they see in Tsvangirai and MDC that they did not see in Sam Nujoma and Swapo, in Samora Machel and Frelimo, in Dr Agostinho Neto and MPLA and so on and so forth?
“Today, Tsvangirai is going round raising concern about the worsening humanitarian condition in Zimbabwe when he was the one who campaigned vigorously for sanctions against his own country, his own people.
“Did he think the sanctions he was seeking, the isolation of Zimbabwe he was championing would have no effect on that country’s economy and the welfare of its people?
“There is no doubt that Tsvangirai sought to take over power in Zimbabwe at the back of national failure. And he must be very frustrated today that the national failure he sought has come to his country but not with the appropriate share of power he wanted.”
Accusing the MDC of “lack of humility, lack of respect for others, and lack of gratitude to their African neighbours”, the Post warned that “Tsvangirai’s excessive dependency on Western Europe and North America for political and financial support will backfire”.
It added: “What Tsvangirai should not forget is that for all that life has dealt them, one thing that Africans have not abandoned is hatred for colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism in general. The Zimbabwean campaign is the biggest Western Europe and North America have ever mounted in an independent African country.
“We have had problems in Kenya, Uganda, Congo, but we have never seen Western Europe and North America do what they are doing in Zimbabwe. Why?
“Tsvangirai shouldn’t mistake the African people’s commitment and desire for democracy as an acceptance of Western European and North American political domination. If he is not careful, the tide of African public opinion may soon shift against him, and with it a decline of his political fortunes.
“There
is no sensible alternative for Tsvangirai and MDC outside negotiated
political settlement as expressed in (an inclusive) government. This
may not be the ideal political arrangement, but for now it seems to
be the most sensible option."
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS
ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com
All material copyright newzimbabwe.com
Material may be published or reproduced in any form with appropriate credit to this website